Capitol Records Building
| roof = | top_floor = | floor_count = 13 | elevator_count = 3 | embedded = | cost = | floor_area = | architect = Welton Becket and Associates | architectural_style= Googie architecture | structural_engineer= | main_contractor = | developer = | owner = Argent Ventures | management = | references = }} The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District building that is located in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The building is a thirteen-story tower that was designed by Louis Naidorf (who was working at Welton Becket Associates at the time), and is one of the city's landmarks. Construction occurred soon after British company EMI acquired Capitol Records in 1955, and was completed in April 1956. Located just north of the Hollywood and Vine intersection, the Capitol Records Tower houses the consolidation of Capitol Records' West Coast operations and is home to the recording studios and echo chambers of Capitol Studios. The building is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. Design The basis for the building's design is on the graduate school drawings of Lou Naidorf who, as the primary architect, designed the first circular office building when he was twenty-four years old. The wide curved awnings over windows on each story and the tall spike emerging from the top of the building resembles a stack of records on a turntable with the spindle pointing skyward. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after completion. The tower incorporates thirteen stories to conform to the zoning height limit that was in place at the time of its construction. Height restrictions were lifted in 1956. The thirteenth floor of the tower is the "Executive Level" and is represented by an "E" in the building's two elevators. Notable features The blinking light atop the tower spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code. This was an idea of Capitol's then-president, Alan Livingston, who wanted to advertise Capitol's status as the first record label with a base on the west coast. Leila Morse activated the switch, granddaughter of Samuel Morse. During the year 1992, the light changed to read "Capitol 50," in honor of the label's fiftieth anniversary. A black-and-white graphic image of the building appeared on the albums of many Capitol recording artists, with the phrase, "From the Sound Capitol of the World". In April 2011, Capitol Records and artist Richard Wyatt Jr. collaborated to restore his iconic Hollywood Jazz Mural on the south wall of the Capitol Records building. Restored in hand-glazed ceramic tile, the mural spans Entitled "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972", this masterpiece presents “larger than life” images of a number of notable jazz musicians. Capitol Studios The building houses the Capitol Studios, a recording facility which includes eight echo chambers engineered by guitarist Les Paul and three main studios, A, B, and C. Frank Sinatra had a close association with the studios, and the Georg Neumann U 47 microphone he carried around with him is there, often used and maintained for studio sessions. The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color. In 2012, Studio A received a new AMS Neve 88R mixing console, designed and built for Al Schmitt and Paul McCartney. Recent history In September 2006, EMI sold the tower and adjacent properties for US$50 million to New York developer Argent Ventures. The studio claimed noise from construction of a condominium threatened it, as well as an underground parking lot by building firm Second Street Ventures would have heavy equipment working within of its renowned underground echo chambers, which are themselves over below ground level. According to the CBS Evening News on July 31, 2008, Second Street Ventures denied this, and the developer's co-owner David Jordon says they had arranged construction work outside the hours of Capitol's recording schedules; he also claimed they have arranged for soundproof materials to be placed between the underground parking lot and Capitol's echo chambers. A senior recording engineer and producer in the recording industry, Al Schmitt, says it would be "heartbreaking" if the company could no longer use the echo chambers, which he says are, "the best in the business." In November 2012, Steve Barnett was announced as the new Chairman and CEO of the Capitol Music Group and the company stated his office would be in the building. In popular culture * The building is known as "The House That Nat Built" due to the vast numbers of records and amounts of merchandise Nat King Cole sold for the company. * In ''Earthquake'', starring Charlton Heston, an earthquake destroys the building. A clip of this scene is in the pilot episode of Galactica 1980, as Cylon spacecraft fire at the building. * In the television series Life After People, the building collapses after 175 years without maintenance. The echo chambers underneath the buildings survive for years after the main tower collapses. * In the 2008 film Hancock, the title character pierces the building's pinnacle with a car in the opening scene. * In the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow, a tornado damages the building. * In the 1990 film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, the protagonists climb down the outside structure of the building while fleeing the antagonist's henchman. * In the music video "Closer Than You Know" and "Touch The Sky", Hillsong United performed at the top of the tower. * In the 1994 arcade game Primal Rage, the building appears in ruins. * In the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the building appears in the city of Los Santos as the Blastin' Fools Records Building. The building would also appear in Grand Theft Auto V as the Badger Building. * In the 2005 video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the building appears in the Hollywood level. Gallery File:Aerial Capitol Records Building.jpg|An aerial view of the Capitol Records Building File:CapitolRecords.jpg|Viewed from Hollywood and Vine, 1997 File:Capitol Records Building LA.jpg|Parking lot mural titled Hollywood Jazz File:Capitolrecords 032806 kdh.jpg|Taken on 2006-03-28 References External links *Capitol Studios official website Category:Buildings and structures in Hollywood Category:Capitol Records Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Los Angeles Category:Headquarters in the United States Category:History of Los Angeles Category:Landmarks in Los Angeles Category:Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Category:Office buildings completed in 1956 Category:Welton Becket buildings Category:Futurist architecture Category:Modernist architecture in California Category:Round buildings